---
title: Daniel 2:18 (JPS 1917) — that they might ask mercy of the God of heaven concerning this secre… · tree and pragmatics
description: that they might ask mercy of the God of heaven concerning this secret; that Daniel and his companions should not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. Who acts: Daniel. Daniel 2:18 in JPS 1917 with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Daniel 2:18 · JPS 1917

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that they might ask mercy of the God of heaven concerning this secret; that Daniel and his companions should not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.

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**Who acts:** Daniel · **What happens:** ask, not perish · **To what, where:** mercy

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This is Daniel 2:18 · JPS 1917 in the English of the Jewish Publication Society's 1917 translation, from Mova's open Bible corpus. The page gives the sentence's syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies, parsed by Mova and checked by a teacher model — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Daniel), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it. The original of the verse links back to its own tree and to the Targum.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = jps:DAN:39
# text = that they might ask mercy of the God of heaven concerning this secret; that Daniel and his companions should not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.
1	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	ask	ask	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	mercy	mercy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	God	God	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	heaven	heaven	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	_
11	concerning	concern	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	13	det	_	_
13	secret	secret	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
14	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	22	punct	_	_
15	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
16	Daniel	Daniel	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	22	nsubj	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
18	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	19	nmod:poss	_	_
19	companions	companion	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	conj	_	_
20	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
21	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	22	advmod	_	_
22	perish	perish	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
23	with	with	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	rest	rest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	_
26	of	of	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
28	wise	wise	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	nmod	_	_
30	of	of	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
31	Babylon	Babylon	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	29	nmod	_	_
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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- form: statement
- act: narrate
- voice: narrator
- polarity: none
- teacher: kept the draft

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ask** *speech: ask* | might | Daniel | mercy of the God of heaven |  |  |  | concern this secret | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent mercy=Recipient |
| 2 | **not** **perish** | should | Daniel and man's companions |  |  |  |  | with the rest of the wise men of Babylon | vn break\_down-45.8 «NP V»: agent=Patient |

<!-- .note -->
One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

## The Aramaic of this verse {#hebrew}

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וְרַחֲמִ֗ין לְמִבְעֵא֙ מִן־קֳדָם֙ אֱלָ֣הּ שְׁמַיָּ֔א עַל־רָזָ֖ה דְּנָ֑ה דִּ֣י לָ֤א יְהֹֽבְדוּן֙ דָּנִיֵּ֣אל וְחַבְר֔וֹהִי עִם־שְׁאָ֖ר חַכִּימֵ֥י בָבֶֽל׃

[Daniel 2:18: the Aramaic tree, its pragmatics →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/ketuvim/DAN.2.18/)

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**Source.** The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, Jewish Publication Society, 1917, from eBible.org: public domain. Sentence `jps:DAN:39` of Mova's parse database.

**The tree and the speech act** come from Mova's cycle: the small model's draft, read by a large model as teacher, passed by Mova's gates (Elamur Cosmic License). **The frames** are read from the tree by Mova's frames reader (`prag`) when this page is built, the chapter read in order, so a pronoun may be resolved from an earlier sentence of the chapter.

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